Zynga has officially shuttered Echtra Games, the development studio behind Torchlight 3, which had been working on an unannounced cross-platform ARPG in the four years since its acquisition.
IGN can confirm the San Francisco-based studio will be shut down by the end of the month. While we don’t have an exact number of individuals impacted, LinkedIn has 61 people who list their current job at the studio.
Zynga has provided the following statement to IGN:
Zynga has made the difficult decision to cease operations at its Echtra studio, ending development on future titles and reducing roles. This decision is part of a strategic realignment of the company’s resources and priorities. We will work closely with impacted employees so they are treated with the utmost respect and consideration as we navigate this difficult process.
Echtra Games was founded by Max Schaefer, one of the co-founders of Torchlight developer Runic Games, and formerly a co-founder of Blizzard North and co-creator of Diablo. Schaefer left Runic after his fellow co-founders similarly departed the studio, and founded Echtra under investor Perfect World to work on a Torchlight MMO. Over time, the game’s vision shifted, eventually becoming Torchlight Frontiers and later Torchlight 3. In 2021, Echtra Games was acquired by Zynga, leaving Torchlight 3 in the hands of Perfect World and starting work on “a new, yet to be announced RPG for cross-platform play” alongside CSR Racing and Star Wars: Hunters developer NaturalMotion.
Unfortunately, Echtra Games’ RPG was never announced or shown. It is unclear precisely why Echtra was shuttered, though its closure comes just three months after Zynga announced it will shut down NaturalMotion-developed Star Wars: Hunters later this year — a decision that was itself announced just nine months after the game launched. Notably, Zynga is a subsidiary of Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive, which slowly dismantled and then sold off its Private Division publishing label earlier this year. The publisher also laid off around 5% of its workforce just over a year ago and canceled multiple projects.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
